


Beaten with a Switch

by jaybbird



Category: LazyTown
Genre: Angst, Fae & Fairies, Heavy Angst, Magic Made Them Do It, Other, Robbie Rotten you done did it now, This is what happens when you recast characters and the fans don't like it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-25
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:08:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9216065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaybbird/pseuds/jaybbird
Summary: Robbie has made a deadly mistake and would give almost anything to reverse it. When the opportunity arises, something twisted is thrown in the mix and now he and Sportacus need to figure out just who the new puppet master of LazyTown is.





	1. Rinse, Repeat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [piranhapunk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/piranhapunk/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I feel bad for Robbie but not enough not to torture him.

Robbie couldn’t breathe, hopelessly trying to get air in his lungs as he ran blindly from the mess he left behind. He felt like he was going to be sick and not just because this was more exercise than he’d had in months. Scrambling up the dirt road to his lair his foot slipped off the rung of the ladder making him smash his face into the hatch. He pried it open desperately as wet tears fell onto the metal. 

He didn’t remember the trip down, instead he found himself suddenly in the corner behind his costume tubes with his long arms curled up over his head and his face buried in his knees. He couldn’t think as his brain pounded into his skull, he just wanted it to be dark, everything was so bright and hot and his lungs burned and he was _sorry,_ okay? He was _SORRY!_

The room went black as a little fae magic leaked out and finally the hitch in his throat became too much and he let out a deep sob, tears spilling over even faster than before. The cake in his stomach was nauseating now and he bit his knuckle as his brain kept painting red over his darkened sight, wailing like a ghost.

He shook at what most certainly would be burned into his eyelids forever, the little limp hands, the way red looks on pink and smeared into blue…

Robbie turned over and vomited into the bucket with the upside down frowny face on it. Then he did it again. It was almost as sweet coming back up and he hated every second of it, pushing the bucket away as he pressed his forehead onto the cold grate metal of the floor as a scream rose up out of his throat to follow the sick. 

He hadn’t meant it! He really hadn’t, not in a million years had he thought it’d go this south so quickly. It’d just been, it was just a scheme! He did one every week, it’d just been _play_ with these kids, the crazy contraptions, the, the _costumes!_ He never actually wanted anyone to get…

A fist slammed onto the grate, making it shake slightly as he tried to stave off the thought of, the idea that something he’d done could be so permanent now. The stupid pink girl, she wasn’t meant to _climb_ on it, the thing was meant to turn those disgusting apples into inedible compost not _people_ into - he grabbed at the bucket again, nothing coming up but sour bile. 

Growls turned to whimpers in his throat and he couldn’t be anything but mad at himself. The way Sportacus had looked at him, the helplessness, the sickness in his gullet, the screams, all that red… He gagged again but swallowed it down. The way the blue elf had gripped onto Stephanie, Robbie was sure he would’ve bruised her and it made him want to take her from him but he knew she wouldn’t feel it, she wouldn’t see the way the two stared each other down, the way it all hung in the air like a disgusting fog, impossible to breathe, to speak, God, he wanted to die. 

And then there was light, soft, and he could see it behind his eyelids, filling the headache that danced in his head like wooden shoes. He felt fear creep down his back, wondering if someone had come for him now, come to take him away from his hole in the ground and put him in a new one, an inescapable one.

 _What have you done here, Glanni?_ A small voice twinkled in his ear, or in his mind, _Made a real mess of your little realm._

“I know,” he moaned, his voice rough and low from the bile burning him, “I’m sorry!” He begged as it turned to a wail.

 _Don’t apologize to me, you old fool,_ it giggled, _you have so much more to atone for than this. I just want to help… But do you even want my help…?_

“Please!” He sat up sharply and felt queasy again, eyes opening with a flash as he sat in pure darkness. “I’ll do anything, I didn’t, I didn’t mean to-!”

_Shut up!_

His voice died in his throat as he stared blindly into the black room.

_You’ve had it good in this little town, off the books, off the grid. You’ve sat this little throne so long you’ve forgotten what it’s like in the mud with the rest of us, haven’t you Glanni? You stupid old man with your stupid toys._

A loud banging began ringing from above, Sportacus shouting as he throttled the locked hatch that led inside. Robbie blessed the foresight he had when he’d lost all sense of himself despite the flickerings of fear to what the man would do to him when he got his hands on him.

_And look what you’ve made of Íþróttaálfurinn, a fool like you who’s forgotten his way! A superhero by no account, and yet here he is playing your games with a smile on his face. I guess he isn’t smiling anymore._

The statement was punctuated by the twisting of metal and Robbie scrambled farther back into the corner, praying that the darkness would be enough to shield him from the elf’s eyes as the thrum of metal pipes got closer, falling down, down into the earth towards the lair.

 _If I fix this I want something in return…_ The voice whispered in his ear, uncomfortably close as he felt a shiver tingle his neck, the heady sensation of magic clinging to the air.

“A-Anything!” He whispered, “just please, bring them back…”

 _“Þú helvítis skúrkur!”_ Sportacus screamed, forgetting himself as he attempted to tear a sheet of metal from the wall to find a way in, Robbie burying his face in his hands.

_Give this world to me and I will restore it to its former glory. Before you sullied it with your pathetic hands._

“Deal!” Robbie choked out before the voice had even finished, childish laughter filling the air in victory as he felt the grate begin to tremble with Sportacus’ steps, his shirtfront bundling in strong bloodied fists, hefting him to his feet just as everything faded away...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note 1: "Þú helvítis skúrkur!" Means "You damned villain!" For those wondering and are too lazy to translate it.  
> Note 2: Robbie, don't you know that heavy machinery is dangerous for children.  
> 


	2. Fresh Start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie and Sportacus start the day freshfaced as ever.

Sportacus woke up at 7 am as he usually did and lept out of bed, pausing to stumble a little. He blinked, shifting his hat on his head and feeling just a small bit odd. Nothing could break his smile though so he continued with his morning routine, feeling just as ready for the day as he had been for years. He was halfway through some grapes when he paused, flicking one into the air and hopping over to his mail tube, snatching it out of the air as he caught the grape in his mouth. 

“Sportacus, we are looking forward to playing soccer with you later. -Stephanie,” he read aloud to himself after he swallowed his grape. “Wonderful! I hope that they are ready soon!” He was unusually eager to see them. It almost felt like he was forgetting something but he shook the sensation as he flew his blimp closer to the ground, casting a shadow over the conspicuous lair below as he passed it.

Inside the metal structure Robbie tossed and turned in his chair, curled up in a little ball of nightmares. He couldn’t shake the feeling of foreboding and anxiety when he woke to the screams of children ringing in his ear. He tried to cover his head with his pillow once the jolt of fear that iced his veins passed, but the laughter that filled the air was disconcerting and he couldn’t get past it.

Tossing his blanket and pillow aside the villain stomped his way to the periscope where the sound came from and peered outside to watch the children set up the soccer field. He zoomed in on the cloud of kids, a shiver going down his back at the sight of the pink one. He couldn’t tell why, as she smiled and laughed and kicked the ball between the few that were already awake, a pox upon him brought by none other than Sportacus, the active little elf man. 

He growled and spun on his heel, an unfortunate victim of slapstick as he tumbled off the gratewalk, but he righted himself quickly and found his way outside into the crisp morning air. 

“Children,” he said with only a slight hint of disgust, _“what_ do you think you’re doing?” 

“Setting up to play soccer with Sportacus!” Ziggy replied, looking rather odd without his lollipop until Robbie noticed it stuck to his back.

“Why on Earth would you want to do that?” Robbie replied, peeling the lollipop off and handing it to Ziggy, pushing him along, “why don’tcha just go home, get under your covers, and watch some good, old-fashioned TV!” Ziggy looked all for it until Stephanie spoke up.

“I don’t think so,” she said, authoritative with the soccer ball under her arm and a sickly sweet smile plastered on her face. “We’re waiting for Sportacus to come and show us some tricks.”

“Yeah, TV sounds boring!” Trixie agreed, “I wanna watch Sportacus!”

Robbie made a face and looked at the kids opposing him, “Fine, if that’s how you like it!”

He could feel their little pink leader’s eyes boring holes in him as he walked away. It unnerved him lately, the way the girl looked at him. But he’d show her, being lazy and not bothering him would pay off in the long run. Lazytown was called such for a _reason,_ a place where too-active children were sent to learn to be quiet and stay inside and not bother the adults in the outside world with their mess. 

Perhaps he’d find something that’d take away the sports balls, munch them all up into something useful, like candy! He began to plan his ridiculous invention on his way down the tubes to his house and hopped out, pulling his chalkboard from nowhere with a sprinkle of magic. 

“So it’d look like this!” He sketched in chalk, all the lines meeting up in cartoonish glee. A funny monstrosity with conveyor belts and wheels took shape and he grinned at the idea. “And now to apply the math!” 

Raising his chalk to the chalkboard he paused, smile faltering. He… he knew how to do this. He swore he did, he’s built so many things before after all, he couldn’t have just done it, there was at least a little math, a little planning, maybe a little magic, but it was still _him_ and his work! 

“Ugh, forget about it!” He pushed the board up into the ceiling to disappear until convenient and began to grab at parts around his lair. He could build it irrelevant of the math! Maybe…. Maybe a little extra magic. Robbie had been feeling oddly powerful lately, the tingle in his fingertips now spread through the air as he zipped around, assembling the machine in record time before he leaned on it. There was something a little off about this spare energy he’d rarely felt before, perhaps it lingered in the air too long because he felt like something was watching him before he wrapped it all up, trying to ignore it. 

Grabbing a net and finding his way back up topside he lured the kids away from the park with his free ice cream routine before ditching them to go and collect the equipment and drag it back to his lair to get munched. When the children began bemoaning their bad fate in the distance, he grinned to himself as his back strained under the weight, not noticing when he ran smack dab into Sportacus who stood as strong as a brick wall. Falling to the ground with his legs sprawling like an ungraceful spider, he looked up at the athletic elf.

Something akin to fear shot through his limbs when they met eyes, something too familiar about the guy standing over him, making Robbie wince violently when he leant down and dragged him to his feet. The pause between them lasted just a little too long and he could tell Sportacus felt it too, the atmosphere of the moment clearing when the kids ran over. 

“Robbie, where were you going with our stuff?!” Pixel asked, the kids glaring up at him accusingly as he began to sweat.

“What? This! Oh, I was just, ah, just, uhm, _cleaning up,_ yeah, just straightening up the place. You know how it is! You kids, never putting your toys away!” He added the last part a bit gruffly and waggled a finger at them. 

“I’m sure Robbie would love to help us put things back, won’t you Robbie?” Sportacus added, smiling at him and clapping a firm hand on his shoulder and making him jump. Robbie looked down at Stephanie, who stared him down with crossed arms through a little pink mask she’d been wearing lately trying to emulate her hero.

“Yeah, I suppose I will…” He grumbled and the rest of the kids and Sportacus ran over to the field with the net full of equipment, leaving Stephanie staring a little bit too long at Robbie before leaving him to follow her friends with her everlasting smile.

Robbie was almost certain Sportacus didn’t notice a single thing wrong with their pretty picture as he sat to the side pouting on the wall, it wasn’t until when he and Stephanie did their little sports dance they always did, singing with her shrill little voice and trying to teach the other kids the moves to no avail. He watched them and saw how Sportacus held her just ever so slightly farther away than usual, didn’t smile quite so wide when they finished their dance and caught his eye towards the end, only to look away quickly and with a little hesitation, grinning like a dog.

The villain hopped off the wall as Sportacus bounced the soccer ball on his head to the cheers of the children, the feeling of being watched haunting him all the way back to his lair.


	3. Something Wrong?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie asked for a clean slate, but this is ridiculous!

Robbie didn’t remember the beach but he was wildly grateful that it existed. He was stretched out wide beneath the warm sun as the children were left behind in the park to play with Sportaflop and it had him beaming. While he wasn’t sure where the idea came from he was certain it was shaped in his image in some God-like way, with it’s sand in his toes and the large duck floaty ring by his side.

His mind didn’t linger long on that however, as he frowned, hearing some person-or-other toddle along towards his resting spot. Flipping up his sunglasses he squinted down the beach path to see Mayor Milford, the weak tomte-type fae, not that he knew that he was anymore, shuffling on his way towards the seaside. Was it the sea if the sea wasn’t there? He hardly had a second to question it before he was accosted by his newfound irritant.

“Hello Mr. Rotten!” The cheerful old man greeted and Robbie groaned, standing up to tower over him.

“Don’t you have something else to do, Meanswell?” He spat a bit harshly, “Go on, get.”

“I don’t have to listen to the likes of you, Mr. Rotten!” Milford replied, a sharp answer sounding odd in his cheerful tone. “This world isn’t yours anymore.”

Robbie blinked.

“What did you just say to me?” He asked, aghast at the reply he received. Milford just smiled his usual blank smile.

“I said ‘How-do-you-do to you too, Mr. Rotten!’ I’d recommend getting your ears checked, sir!” He spoke cheerfully, getting something from behind the tiki bar and shuffling away, yodelling a “Toodleoo!” over his shoulder in farewell.

Standing in the middle of a beach that suddenly felt much too quiet, Robbie began to form a question in his head, long overdue.

 

* * *

 

Robbie Rotten needed to speak to Sportacus.

Clutching the mail tube with his hastily scrawled letter inside, he didn’t want the children to see him waiting to get up the courage to finally send his message. This was terribly embarrassing, standing there like he was about to ask him to prom as he trembled but what Milford had said to him sloshed around in his head for almost a week and he needed to tell someone, _anyone_ and he’d made up his mind that he couldn’t trust either or the Meanswells or the kids.

His hand shaking, he dropped the tube into the pipe and nervously gripped the lever before giving a strong tug. Watching it soar up into the air and disappear was strangely anticlimactic. He wondered if the airship was even there, or if it’d fall back down to Earth elsewhere leaving him  looking like an idiot with his neck craned toward the sky. After a few minutes of this he was almost certain that the call was a failure and began to shuffle his way home, imagining all sorts of scenes where Sportacus laughed at his letter and tossed it away if he _did_ find it.

When he arrived back home and hopped out of his dispenser, he was surprised to find Sportacus waiting for him with a temporary mortal terror. He wasn’t quite sure what about the man made him so afraid anymore, he was practically harmless nowadays and he may as well be made of puppies but still he flinched, harder than ever now when he watched him land nearby from a signature backflip.

“Hallo Robbie! You sent me a letter?” The cheerful elf pulled out the rolled up note and gestured with it as the tall fae scooched around him and plonked into his fuzzy orange chair, sinking in and looking at the other like he was purveying his lazy kingdom.

“We have something to talk about Sportawhomp,” Robbie said flatly and Sport’s smile fell.

“What is it? What’s wrong? You don’t _look_ like you’re in trouble.” Sportacus paused from his gentle bouncing and sat on the edge of the side table, shaking his hand ever so slightly with excess energy. It almost made Robbie feel ill to watch something so _unlazy_.

“Something definitely feels off, Sportaf - Sportacus,” He corrected himself, crossing his arms in an attempt to feel more secure. “I know you’ve felt it lately. I’ve seen it.”

“What do you mean?” Sportacus laughed lightly, “Everything’s been…” When Robbie looked at him and met his eye, he had a feeling so sinking he stopped mid thought. “Fine….”

The elf’s shoulders slumped slightly and he looked down, suddenly rather still.

“Now that you mention it. Something has been rather weird around here. But I can’t pinpoint exactly on what it could be. My… my crystal hasn’t said anything about it but, I know.” Sportacus huffed and stood up, feeling the need to do something and began stretching a little, just to keep moving.

“Would you stop that!” Robbie shouted, before huffing as the other resorted to jogging in place. “Look, I heard… something, from Milford. A bit of odd whatever that isn’t his usual fare. He told me _‘this world isn’t yours anymore’_. Then he acted as if he’d never said it. Do you know what he might have meant by that?”

Sportacus stopped, turning to look at Robbie with a brow furrowed in his confusion.

“I… I don’t know. Should I know?” He asked quickly at the look of worry on Robbie’s face.

“No… I suppose you might not. Even after all these years, we never really got to know each other, did we? But now I feel like…” He growled and stood up, pacing dramatically, “Like my head is full of cotton!” He felt for his fuzzy earplugs to make sure his head really _wasn’t_ , “Like I am being quieted somehow, like I should remember something! Something from before…”

“Like I should remember meeting you…?” Sportacus thought aloud. As he scoured his memory, he couldn’t quite find the day he came to meet Robbie. It felt like… like he’s always been there, in Lazytown, but that couldn’t be right. Could it? Robbie turned slowly to face him.

“What do you mean you don’t remember meeting me?” Robbie was, frankly, a little hurt. Elves were meant to have good memories weren’t they, and Sportacus’s lifelong quest of thwarting his plans couldn’t be erased simply because of his illusion, nor playing with some kids day in and day out.

“Should I?” He quirked an eyebrow, “I just remember… Lazytown, my airship! Stephanie and the kids!”

“Of course you should remember me!” Robbie took a few sharp steps towards him and shook the man’s shoulders, “Grenivík before it had a name, 1653, three children were left by the sea! You found out I had taken them, because they were hungry and they followed my food. I captured you but eventually you got them to help you get them out. No? Ring any bells?”

“No, no, I’m sorry, I,” Sportacus shook his head and Robbie gripped his shoulders a little harder.

“What about Norway, 1732, you found me in a forest out of the village of Brekka in Aust-Agder! Four children of a local farmer had gone missing and you were asked of the village people to find them after they wandered the forest for weeks!”

“No, I-!”

“Denmark, 1764? Sweden, 1783? _Switzerland, 1804? Austria, 1832? 1863? 1871? 1897?! 1902?!”_

Sportacus finally broke free of the manic fae’s grasp and stumbled back staring at Robbie who now stood there, panting.

“I… I don’t know. I’m sorry,” he mumbled out, “I think I should go.”

Long after the plunks of Sportacus’s sneakers on the ladder faded into the distance, Robbie stared blankly into the empty room, falling to his knees on the rug and burying his face in his hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note 1: Tomte is a Scandinavian version of a brownie, a type of fae that does housework and protects households, but hates if you're lazy. Also called a nisse.  
> Note 2: Robbie has been doing the hero-villain thing since he was but a cautionary tale.


	4. That Fae Feeling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every villain needs a backstory.

There are many truths in life that we all have just come to accept in the end: cats pursue birds, dogs pursue cats, and just like that, heroes pursue villains and villains create their heroes. It has happened for generations, that heroes come when the world needs them most and that villains are there to create that need, that darkness that purveys the light in the world.

What had Robbie done to deserve such a hero as Sportacus?

Surely simply shaping his corner of the world to his image wasn’t enough. There had to have been something that drew the elf in, left him trapped in the illusory pocket with everyone else, that made him come when called and keep coming to every world he made, to every pocket that the elf destroyed over the years. But then again, what made Robbie want to shape the world in this way, his dissatisfaction with it, the slothful energy he fed off the children to keep it in exactly the form he wanted it to be in, to be sour and quiet and placated. 

The first time he’d fed off this world he was nearly killed by some children, tricked by them when they were left for dead by their parents. Why, he’d only wanted to live a peaceful life in the woods of Finland at the time and they came, drawn by hunger and weariness to his home, an illusion led by breadcrumbs. 

He learned from that mistake, learned to be tricky, learned more about disguises, and as the world around him shifted his world began to as well. He taught himself things about people, about what would draw humans in, how to siphon to make his world grow. And then came Sportacus, number by number appearing with all his elven knowledge of wellness and excitement to lure the humans back out of his happy pockets until they popped like bubbles. Children returned home, healthy and free. 

Robbie knew Sportacus wouldn’t understand, they were too different. The fae not to be crossed and the elves seen as a blessing. But he was there to teach a lesson, wasn’t he? All the best villains were, to keep the children quiet, to be seen and not heard and out of hair, and sometimes, out of life. So many of the children he had procured were simply  _ left _ , wandering in when abandoned by those who couldn’t handle them. He became a poorly intended magnet for the neglectful nature of humans, something that embittered them to him.

Now he knew, however, that all the children in Lazytown weren’t wanted, they weren’t there because they were missed. They were there because they were given up, though some unknowingly so, tired adults who had no energy to keep up, and no energy for Glanni,  _ Robbie _ to sap. But when that little pink one had appeared so long ago and broken his golden rule he’d almost been grateful. He hated to admit that he was lonely. He kept them all at bay to keep this terrible, small dream alive lest they return to lives unwanted, untapped potential and leave him alone, forever. 

It was a little less quiet and he’d mostly regretted his lack of sleep for it all, but in the end, Sportacus was a company of sorts. He knew Robbie and Robbie knew him and knew that he’d come when called, whether in one way or another. Maybe he looked forward to it. Maybe there was something he enjoyed a little more than laying back and feeding off the laziness of Lazytown. Maybe it was the hither and tither of running (albeit slowly) after the crazy elf as he worked the people housed there into a lather, until the bubble popped again and they’d all be free. And then they start over again, another town, another country, another set of kids. 

Lazytown was Robbie’s largest town yet. That’s why he’d roped Milford, the unsuspecting tomte into the mix, someone who’d tidy up but never too strong to break the illusion, and Bessie to keep him in line. But even so, Sportacus still came eventually. And now, Sportacus doesn’t remember anything else. Now maybe Robbie didn’t  _ want _ to remember anything else.

Way up in Sportacus’s airship, in an unusual fashion, Sportacus hasn’t slept. Instead, he’s paced, he’s moved, he’s eaten for energy, he’s worked out, but most importantly he’s thought. Reaching farther and farther back as the night progressed he’s thought about Robbie, about coming to Lazytown, about Stephanie and being asked a favor by a child. He hadn’t known there even were other places before this, other towns that he had played with, other Robbies that he’d had the back-and-forth with. One Robbie. 

This world felt topsy turvy as he kept remembering, bits and pieces of Lazytown, but never beyond. Robbie was right, it was like cotton in his skull. Something blocking him, wanting him to be complacent. But where was the fun in that! According to Robbie, he had never been there to be complacent. He wasn’t there to play superhero. He was there to free the children and bring them home, no matter how many years passed. But if something was wrong, like Robbie said, wouldn’t he have the power to change it? And if not who did…?

It was a matter of time, before the night rose and he as supposed to be waking up, but with his mind still aflutter it wasn’t until nearly noontime when his mail tube shot through the floor and he fumbled the catch that he realized the time. Stephanie was calling him down to the town for another fun-filled day in the sun. 

That’s when it struck him that he really didn’t want to.

He really didn’t want to go down and play, he really didn’t want to do much of anything until he could figure out this ridiculous problem, and yet, he was gliding down to the town without a second thought, stumbling upon landing and wandering tiredly to the kids. 

“What happened to  _ you?” _ Stephanie asked, looking up at him in her little mask. In a brief moment of rebelliousness he wished she would just take it off, which led quickly to a splitting headache.

“I, uh, had a rough night,” He shrugged and smiled after shaking it off. “What do you need!”

“Ziggy is stuck in a tree again! We were trying to play football and he got shot off the seesaw!” Stephanie explained with a face-splitting grin.

“How unusual! Let’s go get him down.” Sportacus sprinted after Stephanie who led him into the park, where Robbie watched quietly from his lair. He shuddered when Stephanie made eye contact with the periscope, a rare moment caught when the young girl wasn’t smiling before she looked away, tooth to ear once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note 1: In case you didn't get it, Robbie was a tamer version of the witch from Hansel and Gitl.  
> Note 2: I explained tomtes last chapter.


	5. Sweet Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things are slipping through the cracks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Graphic Violence this chapter

It hurt.

It more than hurt, it was excruciating, like something was trying to rend his skin from bone. Robbie could’ve cried, was crying, when had he started crying? 

**_Crunch._ **

He screamed as a boot crumbled his fingers to dust, weeping and apologizing for doing something wrong. What had he done...? To be picked apart and tossed around like a toy, a bloody, messed up toy.

Heartbeats throbbing in his face formed a heavy bassline underneath the bruise blossoming like flower petals across his cheekbones. Bloodstained hands hefted him up by his hair, dragging the way nails feel across a chalkboard and slamming him face first into glass. Robbie felt his nose break and blood splattering, dripping like hot metal into his mouth. Eyes unfocused, he watched the costume behind the glass quiver, the mannequin watching him in return.

Peeled away like a ripped sticker, he watched the glass come at him again, skull crashing into it like a gong. The sound rung in his ears as he swallowed a tooth. Then another and sounds started becoming fuzzy. He barely registered the person doing this to him, just flashes of blue and red and then more red with every hit except this red was-

“...mine…?” he rasped out, tossed aside as his skin scraped along the gratewalk like a cheese grater.

Strong, calloused fingers wrapped around his neck and he twitched, a muscle memory of struggling against whatever fate he earned for this to be happening. His broken hand, limp, but raised to protect him and was caught in a grasp that shot white hot pain through him, his lungs remembering how it felt to scream again, when his mind had long lost itself. 

**_Crack._ **

His arm was snapped against metal like a twig.

**_Clang._ **

His head thrown back into the console, more trails of red he couldn’t see but could feel, like prickling ants’ feet crawling down his spine to linger with the sweat and dirt and pain. Lolling to one side like a ragdoll it was as though the world was as warped as fish eyes when he hit again. 

A second hand joined the first and he felt something crack in his chest when a million weights rested there in the point of a knee. 

**_Clang, clang, clang._ **

As he was shaken he couldn’t take a breath, wondering lightly if he was drowning, thoughts disordered and weak. Life drained from him like honey, thick and slow and overpowering, the last thing he thought he could hear through the fog was a friend, crying, in the distance.

 

* * *

 

 

When Robbie woke up his pillow was wet and there was screaming. 

It disoriented him and he flailed around until the sound registered as not screaming, but laughter coming from the sound system. Placing a hand over his heart, he tried to breathe slowly and get a grip. A hand to his face confirmed that he had tears streaming, but he couldn’t remember why for the life of him. It was just…

A nightmare.

Wiping the tears away he scowled, unable to get a moment of peace awake or asleep it seemed and he stalked to the periscope to look out and see what was so funny.

Drawing his face to it he was frozen with fear for a moment, breath catching in his throat as Stephanie stared down it with a smile, her little mask pinching her grinning cheekbones.

“Good morning, Robbie!” She said, Ziggy and Trixie appearing from behind her to giggle and prod. “You left your periscope out again! You should put it away, or it’ll get broken.”

The sickly sweet tone of her voice felt more like a threat than an actual gift of advice as the girl skipped away to pick up a basketball and knock some apples out of the nearby tree. Something was wrong about this nowadays, and he was starting to consider the possibility that Stephanie knew more about his little world than she let on.

That wasn’t a good thing, Robbie contemplated as he put away his periscope and wandered to his chair again. He wanted to tell Sportacus, but… he sighed, the only one who really knew, and he didn’t remember a thing. 

Was he really alone again? Did he really have to shoulder the brunt of this realm by himself once more? Surely Sportacus should understand, the way he built this place up, and the fact it was the elf’s job to take it down. And now even Stephanie seemed to grow suspicious of Robbie’s machinations. Perhaps she remembered what he’d done.

What  _ had _ he done…? He paused at the stray thought, but it was as if he peered in a door just before it shut, catching glimpses.

Zapping some popcorn into his bowl, he looked down at it. Perhaps he ought to roll back on the magic now that she was growing concerned. After all, she was the type to pick at the seams, wasn’t she? He rubbed the back of his head with distaste and blinked.

Looking at his hand his eyes shot wide with horror when his palm came back nearly black with blood, but a blink and it was gone. His spine chilled to the nerves, he stood up and put the popcorn aside, no longer hungry. It was official, he was rolling back on the magic. 

Quickly grabbing up a pen and some purple paper he hesitated at the words, the nib hovering millimeters away from the surface. Something in Robbie didn’t want to write, something that gave him such a reaction that he actively had to force past just to get the ink to flow. 

_ Sportacus, _ he started finally before taking a breath,  _ come to the lair at 9. Forget your bedtime. _

Folding the page and curling it up made his heart race and he just couldn’t figure out why. Heading for the hatch, he figured only time would tell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys. Nah, not really.


	6. Snow White's Insomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robbie confides in Sportacus, causing some lapses in judgement.

Robbie was resting his forehead against the cool glass of the costume tube when Sportacus landed in his lair. The approaching footsteps set him on edge, turning to face the blue elf his hands clenched and unclenched as he trembled slightly. He couldn’t shake this feeling like he was missing something and whether his curiosity or his self preservation won out was the question of the ages.

Sportacus didn’t look too great himself. He was the closest to disheveled the fae had yet seen, a bit of dirty blonde hair peeking out from his hat and a distinct lack of smile across his face.

“What’s wrong with _you?”_ Robbie snarked, he hadn’t intended to speak with such malice but the venom seeped in anyway.

“I didn’t sleep well again. What did you need?” Sportacus was rather short with him, tense energy rippling off of him making Robbie apprehensive.

“None of the usual back and forth then? Fine by me.” He walked down to where the elf stood but keeping a noticeable distance, his shaking not having gone down at all. “Something is wrong with Pinky.”

“Stephanie?” Sportacus uncrossed his arms, “What do you mean? Are you sure? My crystal-”

“Blah, blah, blah, hasn’t gone off, bweep bweep bweep!” Robbie mocked the sound of the contraption on his comrade's chest. “I think she knows something. Something about… Whatever is going on, about this illusion I made. If she’s been messing with it somehow, trying to find a way out, she could break everything!”

“How do you know that’s not what _I_ want?” Sportacus challenged, startling Robbie into looking at him, “Isn’t that what you told me after all, that all I do is come and burst your bubble?”  
  
“I… Well, I suppose you’re right! But you have to trust me, there’s something _wrong_ in Lazytown,” he insisted. Sportacus sighed, it seemed being a bit mean was not in him after all and he conceded, giving a reassuring, if tired, smile.

“Okay, Robbie, why don’t we just talk to her and-”

“No! Stop trying to be all chummy!  That’s not what’s going to fix this!” Robbie collapsed into his chair and Sportacus went over and put a hand on his arm, making both him and Robbie jolt away from each other’s grasp. Sport blinked, brow furrowed as he looked at his own hand in surprise at his action. Unable to meet his eye, Robbie sighed, curling up and shrinking away. “I-I don’t know how to fix this. It isn’t in my job description to fix things. Just _trust me_.”

“I’ll keep an eye on Stephanie, don’t worry. I’m sure we'll figure this out.”

“And you really… don’t remember?” Robbie looked up at him a little forlornly.

“I… no, not yet,” Sportacus conceded. “I am trying…”

The weird energy between the two of them hung in the air as they took a moment of silence, neither wanting to be alone, neither wanting to sleep for the nightmares, but neither wanting to talk or face whatever might be haunting them. A forgetful hero and a remorseful villain.

* * *

 

In the middle of Lazytown children were playing quite happily, the sun was shining, grass was green and it was a pleasant Spring day all around. Stephanie’s hands were outstretched to the sun, catching a frisbee Pixel tossed to her.

“Nice catch, Stephanie!” Trixie lauded as Ziggy waved his arms back and forth for the next toss. She aimed it at him and gave it a fling, sending it spinning into his face. Ziggy was knocked over and began to cry, and the rest of the kids went to his aid, Stephanie lagging a bit behind with a smile still on her face.

“Don’t cry Ziggy!” She told him as she knelt with her friends, “It’s not that bad.”

“I-I know! But it hu-hu-hurts!” Ziggy wailed and her smile fell.

“You won’t be able to keep playing if you keep crying,” Stephanie said, her tone one of worry though her words didn’t reflect it.

“No! I-I wanna play! I’ll be fine!” The younger boy insisted but Pixel put a hand on his shoulder.

“Would you like one of my Freezy-Healer 6000s?” He offered, smiling.

“Yeah…” Ziggy said as Stingy insisted he get one too despite not being injured, following Pixel away.

“Did someone get hurt?” Sportacus jogged up to them with his brow furrowed, his crystal had only gone off for a moment but enough that he was just slightly too late, why it hadn’t told him earlier he couldn’t tell.

“Sportacus!!” The children cheered.

“Pinky hit Ziggy with a frisbee!” Trixie tattled and Stephanie glared.

“Oh no! Ziggy, are you okay?” Ziggy nodded and wiped his tears because he didn’t want Sportacus to see him crying.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine Sportacus!” He replied, Pixel running back to hand him the freezy-pack with Stingy dawdling behind, squishing it between his hands and mumbling about it. Sportacus helped Ziggy up gently and he pressed the freezy-pack to his forehead.

“Stephanie, did you apologize to Ziggy?” Sportacus asked, and Stephanie begrudgingly looked at the ground.

“Sorry Ziggy, I didn’t mean to hit you!” She said, scuffing her sneakers in the dirt.

“It’s okay Stephanie, we were just playing!” Ziggy smiled at her and Sportacus gave her a look. Surely this wasn’t what Robbie had meant. Stephanie was allowed to be clumsy, despite her usually dextrous spirit. Besides, the child had apologized and the group minus Ziggy were now running off to continue playing.

A moment and he noticed she was staring back at him as well, smile missing from a placid face as she waited for her turn with the frisbee. He blinked, thinking he was mistaken as she was grinning and looking to catch what Trixie tossed her.

“Hey Sportacus,” Ziggy spoke up, looking at his hero, “Can I help you collect sportscandy for everyone? I don’t actually feel much like playing anymore.”

“Of course Ziggy!” Sportacus smiled down at him, “Here, come with me!”

Sportacus went to a nearby tree, took a few steps back, eyeing it up determinedly. Taking a running jump he grabbed one of the branches, swinging himself up onto it. Sitting happily amongst the apples he looked down at Ziggy who cheered him on.

“That was so cool!”

“Thank you! Stand under the branch and I will drop down some apples, catch them!” Sportacus instructed and he began plucking them ripe from the branches. Ziggy caught them and put them in a pile at the base of the tree, grinning. Sport didn’t particularly want to leave his perch, he quite liked climbing and despite his nature to keep moving he could always appreciate the view from in a tree and wouldn’t feel _so_ bad to sit there for just a second. Instead he lept down, doing a flip along the way as he landed with agile reflexes beside his youngest friend.

“I’ll go tell everyone we have snacks!” Running away with all the effort his little legs could carry him, Ziggy shouted to his friends who soon joined them. Every bite of the apples seemed to fill the kids with a renewed vigor, just as Sportacus had taught them. He stood to the side now, munching on his own snack as he tapped his foot wildly.

“This was a good idea! We need all the energy we can get so we can keep playing!” Stephanie cried to the others agreement, all smiles as he watched them with a discerning eye.

“Don’t forget to get a good night’s sleep so you can do well in school tomorrow!” Sportacus reminded them and Stephanie looked at him. Something about it unnerved him before she laughed a little.

“We don’t have school tomorrow, what are you talking about?” The others agreed again with a chorus of “yeah” from her friends.

“You don’t,” Sportacus said shortly, confused as to why he thought they might. His foot stopped tapping.

“Nope!” Stephanie confirmed before continuing to eat, taking another apple off the pile before everyone else. “We can keep playing all day tomorrow too! Won’t it be great guys?” Laughing quietly as the others made plans for what they wanted to do with their day off, Stephanie grinned at him. “You should come back and play again!”

“Maybe I will!” Sportacus agreed, smiling back.

“Hey, this one seems like the nicest apple in the bunch, why don’t you have it, Sportacus?” She offered, tossing aside another core as the kids finished their first. Stephanie held up a large, shiny red apple she pulled from the pile.

“Thank you, Stephanie, that’s very kind of you!” He tossed his own apple core aside and approached, taking it from her and shining it slightly on his shirtfront. He couldn’t imagine Robbie was right about Stephanie at all, she’s been so nice this whole time, and so happy!

She took a bite out of another apple with a loud crunch, watching as he followed suit with a grin.

It was sweet... maybe a little too sweet.

Glancing down, he looked at it confusedly as black oozed from the core, layers of candy making his head grow fuzzy.

“Sportacus, are you okay?” Pixel asked out of the corner of his hearing and when he went to answer he fell to ground, fading from consciousness. The last thing he saw as the children crowded him with concern was Stephanie hanging back, slowly chewing with a frown across her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp. Sorry not sorry.


	7. What a Waste

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A small war is waged; betrayal is at hand.

Stephanie rushed to Sportacus’s side, shaking him as their friends shouts of concern rung through the air. The black oozing candy apple fell from his grasp as he collapsed into a sugar crash and Stephanie picked it up, showing everyone. 

“It’s candy inside!” She shouted over their protests.

“What did you do Ziggy?!” Trixie turned to the youngest of the kids, as he had helped Sportacus pick out the apples in the first place. 

“It’s not my fault! I just collected them!” Ziggy protested.

“I believe you,” Stephanie told him, clutching the apple. “I think I know who did this.” 

“Who?!” They chorused as she gripped the apple white knuckled in her little hand.

“Robbie Rotten!” She decried and threw the apple so hard into the wall that it splattered into goo. 

“Of course!” Pixel said.

“Makes sense!” Stingy agreed as well.

“Only Robbie would do such a thing!” Stephanie announced as if working up a mob. 

“I would  _ not!” _ Robbie shouted from his lair, scandalized as the children grew agitated around their tallest friend. Stephanie’s eyes were aflame when she glared down the barrel of the periscope, urging them on with propaganda. The others didn’t seem to notice when she broke into a smile again, slipping on the little pink mask before they’d notice. The hair on the back of his neck rose.

“Everybody get an apple,” she sneered. “I think Robbie needs to start eating healthy.”

As he scrambled to put away the periscope and think about what to do, the children above ran to the closest tree and began to kick, raining the firm red sportscandy onto the ground with their combined strength. Trixie began grinning herself when she tossed an apple back and forth as she rarely got the chance to be so mischievous.

“I-I don’t like this,” Pixel said finally, brows knit together as he looked at the heavy fruit. Trixie elbowed him.

“Shut up, Pixel! This is for the greater good!” She admonished, not wanting this opportunity taken away.

“Is there a problem?” Stephanie asked from over Pixel’s shoulder and he jumped, stumbling away.

“No, no…” Pixel admitted. Under her watchful eye he gathered a few more apples and he smiled to satiate her, his weak grimace paling in comparison to her.

“Great! Now let’s get a move on!” She marched them out of the sports field, Ziggy lingering behind as he looked at Sportacus, who lay on the soft grass all out of sorts. Pausing, he ran back, putting an apple in his hero’s hand.

“We’ll be back soon, Sportacus!” He assured him quietly, not knowing if he could hear. 

“Ziggy, come on!” Stingy’s voice carried over the wall and Ziggy huffed and puffed trying to catch up.

It was minutes before they reached the billboard, looking up at Robbie who stood in the doorway with crossed arms, staring down a small army of children.

_ “What _ do you think you’re doing!?” He demanded and Stephanie lifted one of the fruits, offering it to him.

“Robbie, would you  _ please _ eat a little sportscandy?” She said, eyes all big like puppydog’s and the sweetest sounding voice you ever did hear. He looked like he could retch just thinking about it, face all twisted and scrunched.

“Never! That, ugh,  _ apple _ is the last thing I would ever eat!” He scowled down at the girl and her brothers-in-arms, who looked at her for orders.

“Then it very well might be. Everybody ready?!” She extended her arm back, the others doing the same and Robbie’s eyes went wide.  _ “Fire!” _

Robbie barely closed the door for one of the apples to crunch and splatter onto the front, scaring the daylights out of him. The kids had gone mad! Stephanie surely had figured out he’d done something, something that made her want to fight back.

He quickly went to the open hatch but when he went to get in the top nearly smashed his fingers, falling shut with an echoey boom that gave hint to the depths below. He fell from the ladder in his effort to avoid getting hurt, so when he stood and tried the top he was confused and frustrated to find he couldn’t lift the thing. The loud, repetitive THWOK of the occasional apple miffed him and he went to confront his attackers.

Climbing up the back of the billboard he peered over the top at them, glaring at their happy-go-lucky leader. She seemed to be enjoying this a little too much, the rest of the group simply determined in their pretend heroism. This had to stop. Now.

“Stop that!” He yelled at them, gathering his courage to stick his head out. “Stop throwing apples at my house!”

“You should’ve thought of that before you hurt  _ my _ friend!” Stingy yelled, the others audibly agreeing.

“I did no such thing! Pinky is the liar here!” Robbie accused as he climbed into view and the whole group joined in her outcry.

“I did not! If you didn’t hate sportscandy so much, maybe you wouldn’t be a villain! Why don’t you  _ TRY SOME!” _

With a wicked baseball pitch, the apple landed right on target. He heard the impact as a thwok and a crunch to his teeth and nose as he lost balance and tumbled from the billboard. Falling gracelessly toward the steps below the children watched in horror, all except Stephanie who’s eyes were dinner plates in victorious anticipation. 

On his way down, Robbie noted the brief irony that his fall hadn’t been his own choice in the end, despite the many nights atop the perch from where he’d been dethroned. Bracing for impact, he was shocked and confused when he was bodyslammed. Hardly the sensation he’d been expecting, a tangle of messy limbs as Sportacus crumpled to the ground beneath him and his weight with strong arms gripping him for dear life. 

He blinked as his head was put back on straight, recognizing now the blue blur that had just saved him for the millionth time. The elf also seemed to be confused and dazed, clearly not fully recovered from the apple that seemed to poison him but having been called by his crystal he must’ve acted on instinct.

The cheers of the children seemed to come into focus, altogether too loud as they swarmed them both, dragging Sportacus up and brushing him off. Robbie retched at the smell of apple that felt like it was everywhere and he wiped his face off on his sleeve, yelping when he touched a particularly tender part, prompting Sportacus’s concern for him once more. The stronger man helped him to his dazed feet. 

“Are you alright?” He asked, looking at him with sharp eyes full of worry.

“Of course I’m not alright, Sportadork, they nearly killed me!” Robbie scowled and wrenched his hand out of the other man’s grasp.

“Not on purpose!” Stephanie insisted, standing a few feet away from the rest with a carefully painted expression of remorse. “He poisoned you first! We were just trying to help!” 

The kids all tried to back her up, corroborating her story. 

“That was still very dangerous!” Sportacus reprimanded and instead of regret, white hot anger seemed to burst from her, eyes like daggers into Robbie as her focus shifted.

“What does it matter! He still tried to hurt you! I’m just a kid, but he should know better!” The tantrum surprised them both but all Robbie could feel was a wash of shame when his friend turned his sad eyes on him.

“I, I, Sportacus, she’s lying, I didn’t, we, we…!” His defense fell flat and Sportacus looked betrayed.

“I thought we were in this together Robbie but I guess I was wrong. You’re the same as always.” Sportacus gave him a weak smirk. “Now what, do you want me to leave town  _ forever?” _

“W-what, no, I, I just…” He looked to the dirt at his feet and the scuffs on his shoes and clothes from their hard landing. Rubbing his arm, he sighed, “No, but I’d like to…” Turning tail, he skulked back to the door.

“Robbie, wait!” Sportacus took a step to follow but the door slammed, making the billboard shake and a tiny hand grabbed his own. The distant creak and even more distant echoes meant that Robbie was already down the chute and with some resignation he looked down at the small pink girl and her friends.

“Sorry we caused so much trouble Sportacus,” Stephanie apologized sweetly. 

“We just wanted to help! To be heroes!” Ziggy explained, looking disappointed in himself.

“It’s okay kids. Why don’t we go back to the park for now?” He offered and they agreed dejectedly, shuffling away as he glanced back at the lair.

“Do you want some sportscandy?” Ziggy offered the last apple to Sportacus and he hesitated before shaking his head.

“No thank you, Ziggy, not right now…” He followed them slowly back to the park, thinking quietly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, depression is a bitch.

**Author's Note:**

> Note 1: "Þú helvítis skúrkur!" Means "You damned villain!" For those wondering and are too lazy to translate it.  
> Note 2: I feel bad for Robbie but not enough not to torture him.  
> 


End file.
